B17 saved by 109?

Discussion in 'Warbirds International' started by looseleaf, Nov 18, 2007.

  1. looseleaf

    looseleaf Well-Known Member

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    A most unusual story. This one should be read around the world.

    God shows up in the form of a German pilot.



    Charlie Brown was a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 379th Bomber Group at Kimbolton, England . His B-17 was called 'Ye Old Pub' and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and fighters. The compass was damaged and they were flying deeper over enemy territory instead of heading home to Kimbolton.

    After flying over an enemy airfield, a German pilot named Franz Steigler was ordered to take off and shoot down the B-17. When he got near the B-17, he could not believe his eyes. In his words, he 'had never seen a plane in such a bad state'. The tail and rear section was severely damaged, and the tail gunner wounded. The top gunner was all over the top of the fuselage. The nose was smashed and there were holes everywhere .

    Despite having ammunition, Franz flew to the side of the B-17 and looked at Charlie Brown, the pilot. Brown was scared and struggling to control his damaged and blood-stained plane. Aware that they had no idea where they were going, Franz waved at Charlie to turn 180 degrees. Franz escorted and guided the stricken plane to and slightly over the North Sea towards England He then saluted Charlie Brown and turned away, back to Europe.

    When Franz landed he told the C/O that the plane had been shot down over the sea, and never told the truth to anybody. Charlie Brown and the remains of his crew told all at their briefing, but were ordered never to talk about it.

    More than 40 years later, Charlie Brown wanted to find the Luftwaffe pilot who saved the crew. After years of research, Franz was found. He had never talked about the incident, not even at post-war reunions. They met in the USA at a 379th. Bomber Group reunion, together with 25 people who are alive now - all because Franz never fired his guns that day.



    Research shows that Charlie Brown lived in Seattle and Franz Steigler had moved to Vancouver, BC after the war. When they finally met, they discovered they had lived less than 200 miles apart for the past 50 years!
     
  2. rudeboy

    rudeboy Well-Known Member

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    What a great story!!!!
     
  3. -cbfs-

    -cbfs- Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for this!

    :cheers:
     
  4. jotaceTOGA

    jotaceTOGA Well-Known Member

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    Nice story.
     
  5. Vlamik

    Vlamik Well-Known Member

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    Searching on Google, I've found this:
    [​IMG]

    Great history, btw! :)
     
  6. jebac

    jebac Well-Known Member

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    <S> Salute Franz
     
  7. -exec-

    -exec- FH Consultant

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    not quite saved.
    some kind of military honour, although remarkable sample of one.

    "i will tell you a tale about Vladimir Lenin, kids. once he shaved when some child stared at him. Lenin looked at him with his sly eyes once, then again, and kept on shaving. And he did not slashed that child, although he could".
     
  8. RolandGarros

    RolandGarros Well-Known Member

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    ...Charlie Brown kept his buff streak going, cashing in almost 100k points that mission and came in 4th in buff points (well behind adsvna's untouchable 25million) that TOD and 17th overall
     
  9. deadmeat

    deadmeat Banned

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    Great story, great men :) That is the spirit most FH pilots are in lack of :(
     
  10. yankee

    yankee Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]
     
    1 person likes this.
  11. jebac

    jebac Well-Known Member

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  12. RolandGarros

    RolandGarros Well-Known Member

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    no, thats not true.
    i fail to complete my mission all the time.
     
  13. zh

    zh Well-Known Member

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    On opposite side there are memories of soviet pilots: favorite german pilot's target was single damaged plane.
     
  14. jfm

    jfm Well-Known Member

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    dont be so naive

    favorite any pilot's target was single damaged plane
     
  15. zh

    zh Well-Known Member

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    i am not naive ;) Enemy is an enemy. And good enemy is dead enemy.
    Simply previous talk was about "german knight". I think he didnt killed that b17 because it was war end and he suddenly understood that killing humans is bad thing and Hitler was bad guy...
    My post is for pilots who dig this unusual WW2 moment to search "spirit" of ... i dont know what.
     
  16. FranzAugust

    FranzAugust Well-Known Member

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    On opposite side there are memories of german pilots: favorite soviet pilot's target was single parachute.
     
  17. zh

    zh Well-Known Member

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    Same as german's too. There ara lots of examples when soviet pilot began to use this war "tactic" only after their friends were killed at parashute.
     
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2007
  18. -al---

    -al--- Well-Known Member

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    bla bla bla and my father can kick your father's ass...

    grow up
     
  19. zh

    zh Well-Known Member

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    Alright...Al right...Al is right :)
     
  20. rondon

    rondon Well-Known Member

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    How many Russian POW returned TO Russia?
    How many POW returned FROM Russia?
    How many people killed AFTER WW2 in Russia by Stalin?
    Where is Raoul Wallenberg?


    The novelty of that story is that during and after the war there was much savagery.